Clubs

Neymar brilliance not enough for PSG to win Champions League

Cameras regularly panned over to Paris Saint-Germain‘s Qatari chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi as he watched his side’s Champions League campaign disappear into the smoke on a disappointing night at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday.

Real Madrid won 2-1 in the second leg of the round-of-16 tie to claim a 5-2 win on aggregate to dump the hosts out of the competition at the same stage of their exit last season.

Despite the enormous spending and recruitment of Europe’s finest talents in Neymar and Kylian Mbappe over the summer, PSG were exposed as pretenders to the throne once again.

Al-Khelaifi will be wondering what he needs to do to witness his side claim that elusive European crown.

Unai Emery has deservedly earned the respect of his peers for his efforts at Valencia and most notably Sevilla where he won three consecutive Europa Leagues.

However, he doesn’t quite make the cut as one of the elite managers in world football and his spell in Paris has proved as much. He completed the domestic cup double in his first season but crucially lost out to AS Monaco in the league. Meanwhile, surrendering a 4-0 first leg advantage over Barcelona to lose 6-5 on aggregate in the Champions League round of 16 certainly didn’t go down well.

While his side are well on course to reclaim the title this time around, elimination from Europe at the last-16 stage again surely spells the end of his reign in the French capital.

Emery brought the best out of the players at Sevilla but working with PSG’s superstars whose egos go hand-in-hand with their phenomenal ability has been an entirely alien task to him and one he hasn’t been able to cope with.

Investing in a top-notch manager has to be the priority for the French outfit if they are to challenge for the Champions League.

Arsene Wenger has been persistently linked with the post but somehow the Arsenal manager’s leadership doesn’t seem ideal, especially when he will need to rally his troops when they have to transition from the comforts of French football to the intense competition on Europe’s biggest stage.

Unai Emery looks to be on his way out of PSG.

IDENTITY

Apart from the fact that they’ve set up in a 4-3-3 formation for as long as anyone can remember, what do we really know about PSG’s philosophy? More importantly, what do they know about it?

Their style of play has never been clearly defined, nor has their approach to games. On paper, they have presented like a formidable opposition for the last few years but as a unit, they have failed to impress.

It’s not surprising that a team assembled through means of copious expenditure has generally failed to gel as a group or project a convincing collective spirit.

PSG are a team of very talented individuals and that has cost them in crucial moments in their tie against Madrid. Think back to the numerous occasions in the first leg when Neymar chose to take on another man or have a shot at goal when he had team-mates waiting in space, or even Mbappe sinfully ignoring Edinson Cavani attacking the six-yard box in the first half on Tuesday night but opting to shoot from a tight angle instead.

The way they gave up after Madrid’s first goal and their total surrender following Marco Verratti’s sending off was indicative of a group of players clearly in it for themselves. They couldn’t be bothered to fight for their manager, whose job is on the line, or the badge on their shirts.

Big names, big egos: Cavani and Neymar

TURN TO YOUTH

One way to begin fostering a team spirit and sense of unity in the squad is by bringing through more local players in the first team squad.

Adrien Rabiot is the only academy graduate to come through the ranks in the current set-up. Mamadou Sakho broke into the first team and was made the club’s youngest-ever captain at the age of 17 but all that changed after the takeover in 2011. Big-money arrivals of Thiago Silva and Marquinhos relegated the France centre-back to the bench and he left for Liverpool soon after.

Given their battle to adhere to Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, selling a couple of high-earners and bringing through some promising youngsters may not be the worst strategy to breathe new life into the first team squad.

Monaco were forced to swap their big-spending ways and focus on youth once funds from Russian billionaire owner Dmitry Rybolovlev dried up and it proved to be a blessing in disguise. As a result, they unearthed several gems and went on to win Ligue 1 last season while also making the Champions League semi-finals.

PSG may have to face the reality that there is no shortcut to success at the highest level and that they may have to work on the fundamentals to ultimately reach their goal.

Monaco won Ligue 1 last season

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